What we believe—the Bear Valley Church Statement of Faith

We believe…

  1. In the verbal-plenary inspiration by the Holy Spirit of both the Old and the New Testaments. We believe that this Divine inspiration extends equally and full to all parts of the original manuscripts, thus rendering them trustworthy and solely authoritative in faith and in practice. The Scriptures reveal the mind of God concerning the need and method of human redemption, and the character and destiny of mankind. We believe they are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20; Luke 24:44; John 5:39; Romans 15:4; Isaiah 8:20; Matthew 5:19, 24:35)
  2. In one living and true God who is self-existent, eternal and infinite in every excellence; who has revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the same in essence though distinct in personality. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:21-22; Jeremiah 10:10; John 1:1-13; Romans 9:5; Acts 5:3-4; Matthew 28:19; II Corinthians 13:14; I Timothy 3:16)
  3. In the existence of a personal devil, the enemy of God and man, who seeks unlawful dominion through the overthrow of God’s beneficent rule. (Genesis 3:1-4; Ezekiel 28:13-19; John 8:44; II Corinthians 4:4, 11:14-15; Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 12:9, 20:2)
  4. In the fall of man and the consequent need of his redemption, he being subject to death and to the eternal displeasure of God. (Genesis 1:27, 31, 2:16-17, 3:1-6; Romans 5:19; Genesis 6:12; Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 3:19; Jeremiah 17:9; Psalms 9:17, 14:1-3)
  5. In redemption, through the sacrifice and mediation of Christ. (Matthew 16:28; I Timothy 2:5; I Peter 1:18-19; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 3:24; Hebrews 9:12; Colossians 1:14; II Corinthians 5:19, 21; Acts 20:28; Romans 4:25, 8:34; I Corinthians 15:3-4, 14, 17)
  6. In justification from the penalty of sin through faith in the atoning righteousness of Christ, bringing us into a state of peace and favor with God. (John 3:14-16, 36; Romans 5:1; Romans 4:5; Romans 5:9; II Peter 1:1; Ephesians 1:7)
  7. In the constraining influence and quickening of the Holy Spirit as the means and source of spiritual life. (John 3:5-6, 16:8; Acts 2:33, 38, 4:31; I Peter 1:2; I Corinthians 2:11; Galatians 5:22-23; John 6:63; II Corinthians 3:6.)
  8. In the preservation of all who believe unto salvation through the love and power of the triune God. (Romans 13:11; I Peter 1:4; John 10:27-30; Ephesians 1:13; Romans 5:21; II Timothy 1:12; Jude 24; Romans 8:11; John 5:24; II Corinthians 1:10; Romans 8:29-30; John 18:9; Colossians 3:3-5)
  9. That Christian baptism is a symbol of the believer’s union with Christ in His death and resurrection, and that the only mode revealed in the New Testament is the burial of the believer’s body in water and the raising therefrom. (Mark 1:5, 9-10; Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:12; I Peter 3:21; Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:41, 8:38-39.
  10. That the Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of His undying love, symbolizing the fact that the believer is nourished and sustained by Christ, in its observance after baptism, according to its symbolic and historic order as required by the teaching of the New Testament. (Matthew 26:26-30; John 6:51-58; I Corinthians 11:23-29; Acts 2:42, 20:7)
  11. That all regenerated ones are members of the church—the universal body of Christ, and that all such should testify to this union by submitting to the ordinance of baptism—a “type” and “likeness”—which act should unite them with a visible body of believers observing the forms, ordinances, and principles laid down in the New Testament. (I Corinthians 11:2, 12:13; Acts 10:44-48, 8:12, 13, 16; Romans 6:5; Philippians 1:1; Acts 6:3, 20:17, 28; I Timothy 3:1-7, 3:8-13; Titus 1:5, 7; Acts 14:23)